Middleman Economy

If you're a PowerSeller on eBay, or a real-estate agent showing houses to your client, or a sales rep in any field (as more than two million Americans are), you're not just pushing products. If you're worth your salt, you're a Certifier, staking your reputation on the quality of the goods you represent. Far from killing the middleman, the Internet has generated a thriving new breed. Between 1999 and 2010, just as the Internet was transforming the world, middlemen's contribution to the United States' GDP has actually grown--from a quarter to more than a third of our economy. In The Middleman Economy, Silicon Valley-based reporter Marina Krakovsky elucidates the six essential roles that middlemen play.